Divorce does not stop the mortgage from coming due. Utilities, credit cards, medical bills, and car payments all keep arriving. When one spouse stops paying, the other often covers everything alone while joint credit slips.
The short answer is yes, Florida law gives you real tools to make it happen. But “suing” is not exactly the right word. You are asking the Florida divorce court to step in with a temporary order that tells your spouse to pay.
This guide walks through your options when a spouse stops paying bills during a Florida divorce, what motions to file, and what to expect from the court.
Can You Sue Your Spouse for Not Paying Bills in Florida?
Not in the way most people think. Florida does not treat unpaid household bills as a civil damages claim between spouses. You cannot file a lawsuit for jury damages just for missing payments.
What you can do is more direct. You can ask the Florida court to issue temporary orders that require your spouse to pay specific bills while the case is pending. If they refuse after the order, enforcement tools get sharper.
The framing matters. The right question is not “how do I sue my spouse” but “what motion do I file to make them pay their share.”
What Is a Motion for Temporary Relief in Florida?
A Motion for Temporary Relief is the main tool for getting bills paid during a Florida divorce. Filed under Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.605, it asks the court to enter temporary orders on financial issues while the divorce is pending.
The motion can ask the court to order:
- Payment of the mortgage or rent by a named spouse
- Payment of utilities, taxes, and insurance on the marital home
- Continued payment of joint credit card minimums
- Interim child support or spousal support
- Access to joint funds for immediate living expenses
The judge holds a temporary relief hearing within a few weeks of filing. Whichever spouse has been carrying the household usually files first. Timing matters because the court looks at who has been paying to decide who should keep paying.
How Do Florida Courts Decide Who Pays What?
At a temporary relief hearing, the court reviews each spouse’s income, the household bills, and the current pattern of who has been paying. Florida judges are not trying to punish anyone. They are trying to keep the family stable until the divorce is final.
The court can order the higher-earning spouse to keep paying most household bills, or split responsibilities by income share. Judges often preserve the status quo when one spouse has been the primary bill-payer.
For families where one spouse ran the household while the other worked, the court often orders the working spouse to keep paying core expenses. The order stays in place until the divorce is final or the judge modifies it.
What Happens If Your Spouse Ignores a Court Order to Pay?
Once a Florida court issues a temporary order to pay specific bills, ignoring it becomes a much bigger legal problem. Enforcement tools under Florida Statute § 61.16 include:
- A Motion for Civil Contempt asking the court to sanction the non-paying spouse
- Wage garnishment through an income deduction order
- An award of attorney fees for the spouse who had to force compliance
- A finding of contempt that can affect the final divorce judgment
Judges take violations of temporary orders seriously. A spouse who ignores one rarely helps their case in the final settlement or trial.
Steps must follow order. Contempt is only available after a court order is in place. That is why filing promptly matters.
Can Draining Joint Accounts Be Used Against Your Spouse?
Yes. If one spouse drains joint accounts, runs up marital credit cards, or hides money before or during the divorce, Florida courts can adjust property division. This is called dissipation of marital assets.
Dissipation is not automatic. You have to raise it, provide evidence, and show the spending was outside the normal pattern of the marriage. Common examples include:
- Large cash withdrawals shortly before filing
- Transfers to family members without repayment
- Spending on a new romantic partner
- Gambling losses that were not part of the marital lifestyle
When dissipation is proven, the court credits the non-dissipating spouse with the missing funds. That can mean a larger share of remaining assets to make up the difference.
What Are Necessaries in a Florida Marriage?
Florida law has an older doctrine called the doctrine of necessaries. It can make one spouse liable for the other’s essential expenses like food, shelter, and medical care. The doctrine is limited and rarely applied on its own, but it can matter when a creditor is trying to collect from a non-signing spouse.
For divorce purposes, this doctrine is not the main tool. The temporary relief process handles the same issues faster and more precisely.
If a creditor is coming after you personally for a bill your spouse should be paying, a family lawyer can review whether the necessaries doctrine offers a defense or whether the court can order your spouse to pay directly.
What Bills Can the Court Order Your Spouse to Pay?
Florida courts have broad authority to allocate financial responsibility during a divorce. Common orders include:
- The mortgage on the marital home
- Utilities and homeowner association fees
- Joint credit card minimum payments
- Health insurance premiums for a dependent spouse or children
- Car payments on jointly financed vehicles
- Ongoing childcare and school-related expenses
The court can order a spouse to keep paying the same bills they were paying before the case was filed. Consistency matters. A spouse who suddenly stopped paying bills they had covered for years usually cannot use divorce as the reason.
For a fuller picture of how these debts get sorted in the final settlement, see how property is divided in a Florida divorce.
What Steps Should You Take First?
If your spouse stopped paying bills, moving quickly matters:
- Document every unpaid bill and the date it went unpaid
- Save late notices, credit card statements, and collection letters
- Do not run up the credit cards yourself to make up the gap
- Save bank statements showing which account paid which bill before the change
- Talk with a Florida family lawyer about filing a Motion for Temporary Relief
A well-documented motion filed within the first few weeks of nonpayment gives the court a clean picture and moves things fast.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most Florida circuits schedule temporary relief hearings within four to eight weeks of filing. Exact timing depends on the county's family court calendar.
The court can order a spouse to pay bills in their name if the bill is a marital obligation, such as a joint credit card or car loan. Truly separate debts are usually left alone.
Yes. Florida courts require financial disclosure through the mandatory financial affidavit before ordering specific payments. Both sides show income and expenses.
Sole-name bills can still be part of the request if the debt was incurred for household purposes during the marriage. The judge looks at substance, not just whose name is on the account.
Talk to a Florida Divorce Lawyer About Your Options
Watching your credit slip while your spouse ignores the bills is one of the more frustrating parts of a Florida divorce. The court has clear tools to fix the imbalance. Filing the right motion, at the right time, with strong documentation almost always produces a temporary order that gets bills paid again.